A Home is No Place to Hide
by Defygravity09
Summary: First the Quinns and then the cops are asking around about Daphne. What happens when it all becomes to much for Callie and Stef catches her finding her release? *Warning Self Harm*
1. Old Habits

**Hi. This is my first time writing for The Fosters. I have written before but not for this show. So this idea came to me after watching Girls Reunited. It was originally going to be a one shot, but I have decided to make it longer, if enough people are interested in it.**

 **WARNING: MENTIONS OF SELF HARM**

 **~Defygravity09**

Callie had finally had enough. First everything with the Quinns, and now the cops are on her case about something she may have been involved it with Daphne. After all, she was the one to convince her to return Tasha to her foster family, so she shouldn't be in too much trouble, right? She didn't want to call her father but at the time, it was her only choice.

Sitting in her room one night alone, Mariana was staying the night with Tia to work on her dance routine, Callie thought back to the night she found Becka cutting at the Girl's United house and then talked her into getting help. Leaning back against her pillows, she closed her eyes, and tried to get rid of the bad thoughts in her head. The pressure was building in her chest. She couldn't handle it any more. She bolted from her bed and locked herself in the bathroom connected to their room. She searched everywhere before she finally found what she was looking for. She ripped open the fresh pack of blades for Marina's razor and broke it in half, exposing the new, sharp razor blade. She turned on the shower and stepped inside. Sitting on the floor with the warm water running over her, she placed the blade against the skin on her upper thigh. One cut. Two cuts. Three. Then more. They weren't very deep, just enough to draw small beads of blood to the surface.

A few moments later, Callie was out of the shower. She had cleaned up her wounds and bandaged them. She walked back into her room where Stef and Lena were sitting on her bed waiting for her to get out of the bathroom.

"Hi, Love." Stef said as Callie made her way to the bed. Then teen just smiled back. "We just wanted to check on you and see how things are going."

"They're fine." Callie lied through her teeth.

"Are you sure, honey?" Lena spoke up in her nurturing tone.

Callie nodded. "I was having trouble falling asleep and decided that a shower may help. Which it did. "

"Alright, well the boys are already asleep. Would you like one of us to stay with you until you fall asleep?" The blonde asked, getting up from the bed so Callie could get in. Callie shook her head and crawled into bed.

"I will be okay. Good night." Lena leaned in and placed a kiss on the young girl's head, followed by Stef.

"Good night, my baby. We love you." Stef said as she shut the door to the room. Callie laid there for a while before finally dozing off.

The next morning, Callie threw her legs over the side of the bed, and almost screamed out in pain. Tears rimmed her eyes. After locking both bathroom doors, she pulled her pajama pants down, removed the band-aids to check the cuts from the night before. They were red. _Were they supposed to be this red? There is no way they got infected that quickly._ She racked her brain trying to remember Becka's wounds the day after she caught her doing it. Yeah, they were red. _What was it that Becka said? Think Callie. Oh yeah! Is there heat coming from them? Callie reached down and touched her leg. Nope not heat. So no infection._ Callie cleaned them again before placing a couple of more band-aids on them and took her mess to the trash can in her room. It had a lid and Mariana never bothered taking out the trash so her evidence would be safe here. She got dressed for the day and went downstairs for breakfast. It was Sunday so she didn't have to deal with school today and she wasn't scheduled to be at work until Monday either.

Lena was sitting at the kitchen table, drinking a cup of coffee and reading the paper.

"Hey baby. Breakfast is in the microwave. Stef took Jude over to Taylor's, Jesus is off with the current girl of the week and Brandon went to his dad's. So we have the house to ourselves until Mom gets back." Callie smiled over her shoulder at Lena. She was such a good mom. But Callie knew that in order to keep Brandon safe and Jude safe and protect Daphne, she had to do this.

"Lena, I need to talk to you and Stef some point today."

Lena's eyes filled with concern. "Is everything okay?"

"Uhm. Not really, but I would prefer to tell you and Stef together. If that is okay?"

"Sure, honey. She should be home soon." The rest of the time was spent in silence. Callie ate her breakfast, well picked at her breakfast. Her stomach was doing flips. She was dreading telling the two women who meant the world to her the news she was about to tell.

While doing her dishes from breakfast, Callie heard the door open. Stef walked in, placed a kiss on Callie's cheek and did the same to Lena.

"Hey, my loves. How was your morning?"

"It was quiet." Lena smiled a sad smile. "Callie needs to talk to us. You have a minute?" Instantly, Stef's whole body tensed. This didn't feel like it was going to go very well.

"Sure, let's go into the living room." The girls made their way into the living room, and took their usual seats, Callie on the couch and the moms in their chairs.

"What's wrong, Sweets?"

"I, uh, I have been thinking and I think that maybe, uh it would be best if I, um…" Callie could feel her throat tightening up as if she were going to cry. _Just spit it out._ "I feel that it would be best if I…I think I am going to move in with Robert." Callie looked down at her hands. She didn't want to see what the faces of the women she loved so much looked like after she just basically chose her birth father over them.

After a few moments of silence, Lena spoke first. "Are you sure, honey?" Callie nodded, still not looking up.

"Why? I mean, we are so close to finally adopting you. Why are you giving up on us, love?" Stef's voice began to crack. This caused Callie to look up.

She shook her head, causing the tears in her own eyes to spill over. "I…I am not giving up on you guys. I just feel that this is what the judge is going to do, so why stay here and become even more attached when I am just going to be taken away again. I am just so tired of fighting. I am done. I am sorry. You will always be my family. I just feel like this will get rid of some of the stress in our lives." At some during her speech, both Stef and Lena had moved to the couch and sat next to Callie. Stef pulled Callie into her side, while Lena held her hand.

The Moms took a moment to let it sink in. Stef spoke next, "And you are sure this is what you want?" Callie nodded. "Okay. Well do me a favor. Let's wait a couple of days. Don't mention your decision to Robert just yet, okay? Can you do that for me, Love?"

"Uhm. Sure." Callie was confused but decided that was the least she could do for these women who saved her little brother.

That night, Stef and Lena told the rest of the kids about the talk they had with Callie that morning. Everyone was extremely upset about Callie's decision but no one wanted to make her feel bad. Jesus and Mariana understood what it was like to have to deal with moving foster home to foster home. Jude knew that Callie was fed up with the system and just wanted to feel safe. He was promised that he would get to see his sister all the time. Brandon took the news pretty hard but then decided that maybe that is what they need, for Callie to be a part of another family. Maybe then they would have a chance of making it together.

"So if you all are up for it, could we possibly have a movie night? I know we have school but I just really want to spend time as a family before our lives become super busy this week." Mariana asked.

Lena looked over at her wife and shrugged her shoulder. It wasn't a bad idea at all.

"Sure, would you like to pick out the movie, Miss Thang?" Mariana nodded before getting up to find a movie. Stef motioned for Callie to follow her into the kitchen to start making popcorn. Once they were out of ear shot, Stef pulled Callie into a hug before pulling back but keeping Callie in her arms.

"Honey, this is the last time I am going to bring this up, I promise. I just need to know that you are sure. I know that you leaving does not mean that you are any less apart of this family, but it is going to be a big change. So are you sure, because mamma and I would fight for you until we were able to adopt you. We would never give up. You are our daughter. We love you, sweets."

Callie let a few tears fall, before hugging Stef again. "I know, but I can't risk being taken away again. So I am sure this is what I need. I love you both so much."

"Okay, Love." Stef grabbed the bowls of popcorn and walked back into the living room. She handed them out to everyone as Callie took a seat on the floor. As Stef walked back past her, she gave her shoulder a small squeeze. "So what did you decide on, Miss Thang?"

"What about Transformers?" No one objected, so Mariana put the movie in and took a seat next to Callie on the floor.

By the end of the movie, almost everyone was asleep. Brandon had gone up to his room half way through the movie, stating he couldn't keep his eyes opens anymore. Jesus was stretched out on the couch, fast asleep. Jude had curled up into a ball on the floor and Mariana was leaned up against Callie. Lena woke Jude up to go get in bed while Stef worked on Jesus. When Callie stood up, it woke Mariana up.

"Go get in bed, Mariana. I will be in there shortly." Callie said collecting the popcorn bowls and going to the kitchen.

Twenty minutes later, Stef and Lena came down the stairs in their pajamas to find Callie sitting on the couch staring off in space.

"Bug, are you okay?" Lena asked, quietly, so not to startle the girl.

"Yeah, just thinking."

"Wanna talk about it?" Stef asked as she approached her daughter.

"No. Not really. I need to go to bed. Good night. I love you." Callie gave each of her moms a hug before climbing the stairs.

She lay awake in bed, trying not to toss and turn disturbing her sister. She was thinking about living with Robert. She loved it here. Would it be such a bad thing to just tell Stef what happened? Would Stef even be able to help her? No. She would kick her out and that would kill her. She had come into this house expecting to only be here a few weeks and now this family had changed her life. She sat up and looked over at Mariana. She smiled thinking about how when she first got to the house, she and Mariana butted heads. The looks she would receive then compared to now were full of so much hatred and judgment. Now she loved the girl. She looked at her like a younger sister. Sure they had nothing in common, but she would be lost without her diva. Callie quietly crawled out of bed and walked into the hallway. She stopped at Brandon's door, which was cracked. She looked in on him for a moment. He was the first in the house to truly accept her. He helped her out; he risked his life to help her save Jude before he even really knew her. Then their on again off again relationship. She loved the boy, she can't help it. She has tried to get rid of those feelings but she just can't. You can't help who you love. She walked across the hall to Jude and Jesus' room. She never really had a chance to connect with Jesus. I mean sure he was her brother but he was always off with his girlfriend and now wrestling and dealing with Ana. He led a very busy life. Then there was her baby. Her Jude. He had been through so much and some of it was Callie's fault. He deserved to be happy and what she was being accused of would take so many people down and she couldn't do that to her baby. Yes, her moving to Robert's was the best thing for him. On her way to the bathroom, she peaked in on Stef and Lena. These two women meant more to her than anyone else in her life, besides Jude of course. They took her in, then her brother, and now they were trying to adopt her. She couldn't wrap her head around the fact that anyone had wanted her. She didn't understand how people could care about her after all of the horrible things she had done. She stood there at the door for a minute before going into the bathroom.

Stef heard the bathroom door shut, even though Callie had done it quietly. She got up to check on her kids, as she had done every night if she woke up. Everyone was in bed, except Callie. She knocked on the door, lightly. No response. The noise she heard before knocking had stopped. Then she heard a few sniffles.

"Callie? Honey, is everything okay?"

No answer.

"Love, Please open the door."

No response. Stef became worried. She tried to turn the door handle and to her surprise it was unlocked. She opened the door and her heart stopped beating. Her baby was sitting on the toilet, with the lid down, her legs covered in blood. Stef's stomach lurched. She felt sick, be tried to hold it down so she could help Callie.

"Oh, Sweets." Stef squatted down in front of Callie. She took the blade from the now frozen girl. Looking up at her daughter, she saw a pale face and a blank stare. She pulled her into her arms on the floor. Callie didn't fight her; she went numb, allowing herself to be maneuvered. Stef grabbed the first aid kit from under the sink and began cleaning and bandaging Callie's leg. She saw where there were fresh wounds and cuts that had been done the night before. After cleaning everything up, Stef continued to sit on the bathroom floor, rocking Callie. She had no idea what to say, so she just held her baby tight, placing kisses along her temple.

After a while, she decided to move Callie into her room.

"No, I can sleep in my own bed." That was the first thing Callie had said.

"I don't think so, Love. Get in." Stef moved the blankets so that Callie could crawl into the bed. But she didn't move. "Callie. Get in. Now." Her voice was stern but loving as well. Callie gave in and climbed in next to Lena. When Stef got in the bed, she pulled Callie up against her, Callie's head on Stef's chest. They lay like that for a moment.

"I can hear your heart." Callie felt smaller than she was. The sound of Stef's heart was calming her down. She felt like a baby, needing her mother's heart beat to put her to sleep. Stef smiled down at the brunette.

"Listen to it, love. It beats for you and all of the other kids. You babies are my heart. Without you, it wouldn't beat." Stef knew that it would continue to beat, but she would have no reason to go on without her kids and to know that one of her babies was hurting so much that she felt the need to harm herself, broke her heart.

"I'm sorry, Stef. I messed up again." Callie began to cry.

"Not now, baby. We will talk in the morning. Get some rest." Callie continued to cry. Stef wrapped her arms around the girl and rubbed her back. Soon enough, Callie's breathing had evened out and she was asleep.

Lena woke up the next morning to find Callie still wrapped in her wife's arms. Confused as to why her daughter was in her bed, she gently shook Stef awake.

"Good morning, Love." Stef smiled, leaning over Callie to kiss her wife.

"Good morning. When did we get company?" Lena motioned to Callie.

"Last night. Let's go get coffee." Stef moved Callie off of her, and to her relief Callie cuddled into her pillow and fell back asleep.

In the kitchen, Lena poured the coffee and then sat down; waiting to see what Stef was going to tell her. She knew it wasn't good.

"I woke up last night and went to check on the kids. I found Callie in the bathroom, cutting." Stef's eyes filled with tears, thinking back on the scene she walked into. Lena gasped. She never thought one of her kids would ever do that. She knew something was bothering Callie but she didn't think it was bad enough to lead to this.

"Oh my god. So what are we going to do?" Lena asked tears brimming her own eyes.

"Well, I don't have to be at work until 4 today. So I am going to keep her home and we are going to talk, whether she wants to or not. It needs to happen. I need to find out what is going on with our baby."

"Maybe I should call out of work as well. I should be here for this." Lena grabbed her phone off the charger in the kitchen and called Monte.

"Monte, I need to take the day off. We have a family emergency of sorts.

No. I will not be in.

Fine. See you soon."

Stef raised an eyebrow at her wife.

"Monte said that we have a meeting with the school board to discuss grants and if I do not come today, then she can't promise I will still have my job tomorrow." Lena placed her head in her hands.

"Its okay, Love. I will stay with her until you get home and then maybe you and Callie can have a talk when I leave. It is okay."

Before Lena could respond, all of the kids came bouncing down the stairs into the kitchen with all of their school supplies, including Callie. After making their own breakfasts, they sat down and began to eat.

"You are spending the day with me." Stef announced to Callie. Her daughter's eyes got big. She didn't think that Stef was serious about talking today.

"I have a lot of work to do today, I really can't miss school." Callie said making up an excuse to not stay home.

"I will get it for you and bring it home." Lena said, gently, with a sad look on her face. _Great, now Lena knows too._

"Fine." Callie cleared her plate and headed up the stairs.

"Not so fast, young lady." Stef said hoping that Callie picked up on the fact she was not going to be alone.

"I am just going to change out of my clothes into something more comfortable. Wanna come watch me?" Callie responded with an attitude. She hated the fact she had been caught. She hated the fact that she was even doing it. She just hated everything.

"No. And you need to adjust that attitude while you are changing as well, Love." With that, Callie went upstairs. Stef looked around at all of her other babies and saw that confused look on their faces. They had not heard Callie talk to someone with that tone of voice in a long time. They knew something was up.

"What's going on?" Jude was the first to speak.

"Callie just had a rough night. But I am going to stay home with her and see if we can figure some things out. Don't worry about it, Bud. She will be okay. Now finish up, or you will all be late." The kids began cleaning up their mess. Mariana pulled Lena aside.

"Does this have to do with the bloody tissue I found in our bedroom trash can?"

"Uhm. Maybe. I am not entirely sure what is going on myself, but don't mention that to anyone else, okay?" Mariana nodded. She felt bad for Callie. She thought she was doing so well. Why did she go back to cutting? Only Mariana knew about Callie's past with cutting, but it wasn't her place to tell anyone.

Lena pulled Stef into a hug and whispered what Mariana had told her before pulling back and placing a kiss on her wife's lips.

"If you need me, call me. I love you." Lena and the kids left.

Callie was sitting on the couch when Stef closed the front door. Running her hand through her hair and letting out a sigh, she decided that she needed to get this over with.

"Okay, Love. You need to talk to me and talk to me now, please."

"There is nothing to say." Callie was staring off into the distance. "You found me cutting. You cleaned it up. I didn't die. I didn't need stitches. I am fine. I don't understand why we need to have this talk."

"Because something is bothering you enough that you want to harm yourself and that is not okay. Nowhere near being okay. You are such a beautiful girl, Callie. You have so many people that love you, honey. There is no need to do this to yourself. You are not only hurting you but everyone around you. Lena and I care about you so much; I don't know what we need to do to prove it to you. We want you Callie, and there is nothing you can do or say to not make that true honey." Callie began to break down. Silently tears slipped out of her eyes and down her face. No one had cared before. But, still she didn't speak.

"I want to go upstairs and clean the cuts again. If they are healing okay. We have all day. I will be here all day. So whenever you are ready to talk, I will be here." The young girl nodded before going upstairs to have her wounds cleaned. When Stef took the gauze off, she had to choke back a sob. Her baby had done a number on herself last night. She got out the peroxide and began cleaning them. As she was doing so, she noticed that on Callie's calf there were some old scars. She couldn't hold back anymore. Tears began to stream down Stef's face. She leaned down and kissed the old scars on her baby's leg, before pulling her into a bone crushing hug.

"Oh, baby! How long has this been going on? Why didn't anyone put it in your file? How did we not know?"

"No one knows." She didn't want to tell her that Mariana knew and risk getting her in trouble for not telling her moms. "I kept it hidden. I usually use make up to cover the scarring when I wear shorts." Callie felt herself opening up. No one had ever cried over her pain before. She felt weird. Like she couldn't explain it. She felt loved but also exposed. Maybe that's what it was she felt exposed. "Stef. I want to talk."

"Okay, baby. I am not going to put anything on these right now, we need to let them air out some. Let's go to my bed and talk." She helped Callie up, not missing her wince as she stood. She knew that she was going to be sore for a few days.

Stef sat down on her side, while Callie took Lena's. Callie held Lena's pillow in her arms as a security, so she could feel like both of her moms were there. Stef sat there patiently waiting on Callie to start.

"When I was living with Liam and his family, that's when I started. It was after he raped me. I couldn't tell anyone. I didn't know how to deal with it. Uhm. It continued up until I went to Juvie. They don't allow you to have anything that could be used to self harm. When I got out I swore to myself that I was done. I would never do it again. Then I moved in here, things began to get better. The urges became less and less until there were days that I didn't think about cutting at all. Then all of this stuff with my adoption and Daph, I mean my dad. Uhm…it just I guess became too much." She stopped. She had almost spilled her secret.

"Baby, I am so sorry that things have not been easy for you. And I am glad that you were able to stop when you lived with us. But why did you start back up? You know that you can wake us up at any time of the night. We will always be here for you to talk to." Stef didn't miss the slip up; she was just going to take her time getting there.

"I know but I just figured that if you found out how messed up I really am, that you wouldn't want me anymore. I know that deep down inside that was a stupid thought but still, I just convinced myself of that."

"Callie. We will always want you. I swear. But you have to break down that wall and let us in. We can't help you if you won't let us. You are our daughter and that will never change, okay, love? Trust me." Callie laid her head and Stef's lap and let her play with her hair.

"I love you, Stef. And I am sorry."

"Its okay, Baby. We will help you. Just trust us." Callie nodded. They stayed like that for a while, and then Stef couldn't hold it in, anymore.

"What happened with Daphne?"


	2. Daphne

**AN: Sorry for the wait. Here is the next chapter. I changed a few details to help with the plot of this story. So if something isn't dead on, I am sorry. Bare with me.**

Callie's heart stopped. Stef had caught on to the slip up. _Do I tell her? Do I make up something?_ Callie looked up at Stef who was waiting for an answer. Her eyes begging the brunette for the truth.

"If I tell you, you have to let it go, okay?"

"I can't promise that, but I can promise that I will still want and love you." Stef began to worry now.

"I got a phone call that night that Brandon and I left the house to go get something I left at work. The truth is, Daphne had called and when we got to her, she had taken her daughter from the park." Callie looked at Stef's eyes, which had gotten huge. "When we realized what had happened we talked her into taking her back to her foster home. Brandon and I sat in the car around the block and waited for Daph to get back. She never showed back up so we left. She was at work the next day and said that she didn't want us getting into trouble in case they came looking for her so she just went the other way. Then a few days ago, two detectives came to my job and asked me about the toy I had given Daphne when I heard that she was going to be able to see Tasha. That's her daughter. The clerk in the store identified me and they came asking questions. So I called Robert because I didn't want to upset you guys and you end up kicking me out. He got his lawyer involved and they advised me not to say a word to anyone. Then everything spun out of control and that is why I am moving in with Robert. Because he is helping me with everything."

Stef took a moment to process the information. "So is Robert threatening you and that is why you are moving?"

"No. Not at all. I am moving because I don't want you guys to kick me out when the shit gets rough. It would be easier to leave on my own than if you and Lena were to tell me to get out, or so I thought. That is why I was cutting. I was hurting and that was the only way I knew to handle that type of pain."

"Honey. We would not kick you out. I would have helped you, love. I wish you would have told me sooner. If you do not want to move in with Robert, then stay here. Don't leave us." Stef pulled Callie into her side. This was a lot to process. Stef was at a loss as to what she needed to do. But for now, she was going to hold her baby and let her know that everything would be okay. She would deal with the punishments later after talking to Lena about everything. Maybe then she would know what she needed to do as well.

"I am so sorry I keep messing up, Stef."

"It is okay, love. Thank you for telling me. Lena will be home in a few hours, what do you want to do?"

"Is staying in your bed an option?" Callie laughed.

"No, but we can move this to the couch, if you want. Maybe watch a few movies?" Stef knew that if she were to stay in her bed with Callie, she would end up falling asleep and that is not a good idea for her, considering she needed to work that evening. Stef knew that was the teen's way of asking for more cuddle time and if Callie wanted cuddles she would happily oblige on the couch.

Once the movie was decided, Silver Linings Playbook, and the popcorn popped, the girls snuggled up together underneath a blanket. Callie was never this clingy, so Stef was soaking it up. She regretted not knowing Callie and Jude from a young age and felt she needed to make up for all they had been through. She knew it was crazy, but she felt guilty to an extent for not being there as a foster mom and as a protector of the citizens (no matter how young) of her city.

In no time, Callie was out again. Stef heard the front door open, leaning up, slowly so she didn't disturb the sleeping teen, she saw her lover closing the door. She slid out of the sleeping girl's grasp and stopped moving when she began to stir.

"Shhh. Baby. I am going to talk to Lena. Go back to sleep." The cop said as she gently rubbed Callie's head.

Stef joined her wife in the kitchen and found that the tea kettle was already brewing. Seeing the blonde, Lena opened her arms to hold her tight. They stayed like that for a while, soaking in each other's pain and hurt, until the kettle began whistling. They parted with a peck to the lips before sitting in their respective seats at the table. Stef glanced at the clock, it was a little after one.

"You're home early, is everything okay?"

"Yeah. Monte told me I could leave after the meeting was over if I wanted to, so I jumped on it."

"I am glad you did. We need to talk." Stef filled Lena in on everything Callie had told her that morning. "So I don't know what we should do or how we should punish the kids."

"Well are we sure they even need a punishment? I mean the way you just explained it, it seems as if Callie and Brandon are the ones that talked her into returning the child. Sure they messed up by not calling us, but is there anything the detectives can do to them, for taking the baby back?"

"I don't think so. I mean they didn't kidnap her, so they wouldn't be assisting the crime. They took her home. But, if they came asking, Callie wouldn't give up Daphne and she would take the heat."

"You're right." They were interrupted by a knock at the door. Lena got up to answer it, opening it to Daphne.

"Hello. I need to speak with Callie, please. I know she is here, I went to the school and the girl told me she was staying home today. It is really important." She looked nervous.

Stef opened the door, after hearing who it was. "Come on in. Let me get her for you."

"No thanks, I would rather stay out here."

Nodding, Lena went to wake Callie.

"Callie, honey, wake up." She shook her gently. "Daphne is here and needs to talk to you." Callie shot up off the couch and basically ran out the door.

On the porch the girls sat side by side on the steps.

'What's wrong, Daphne?"

"I told the detectives that I was the one who took Tasha. I left you and Brandon out of it completely. I took all of the heat."

"What about the toy? They have that linked to me."

"I told them that you had bought it for me to give to her when I saw her at my visitation. Which wasn't a complete lie."

"Daphne, you didn't have to do that. I told Stef. She was going to help us." Daphne stood up.

"Why would you tell her?"

"She caught me doing something and made me talk today."

"What did she catch you doing?"

"Uhm. Cutting." Callie barely whispered.

"Cal! Why would you do that?"

'It was all becoming too much. I didn't know what to do."

"See, so I did the right thing. Now go tell them that it is over. You can stay here with them. You don't have to move with Robert. I am sorry I ever brought you and your foster brother into this. It is time you have your family, girl."

"Thank you." Callie stood and hugged Daphne. "So what is going to happen to you?"

"Rita is in the car. She brought me over here. I get to stay at Girl's United until my hearing, she made sure of it."

"Well, that's good at least. Look, I will come by as soon as I am no longer under whatever grounding the moms are going to dish out."

"Okay, I have to go." Daphne turned and walked back to the car, Rita blew the horn, and Callie waved goodbye. Going back inside, she saw her foster moms in the kitchen. She decided to make her way in there to let them know what happened.

"So, Daphne told the cops that she was the one that took Tasha, leaving Brandon and I out of it completely. She is back with Rita until her hearing." Callie sat down after pouring herself a glass of orange juice.

"Thank God." Stef and Lena both breathed a sigh of relief. Stef got up and kissed Callie on the side of her head.

"So does this mean you are going to stay with us?"

"If that's okay, I would like to stay." Callie said smiling, knowing the answer already. Lena let out a small laugh.

"Of course. We didn't want you to leave in the first place, Bug."

"Go on upstairs and start on your homework Lena brought home, and I will be up before I leave." Callie headed up the stairs. "Oh! And Callie? Don't make me regret sending you up there unsupervised, please, love." The teen smiled before going to her room.

"So? What are we going to do now?" Lena asked. Stef shrugged her shoulders.

"Maybe talk to them and let them know to talk to us, next time something like this happens?" Stef smiled. She was honestly just happy that Callie was going to stay and that she hadn't done anything to make her want to leave. She could deal with anything other than being the reason Callie was unhappy.

"Okay. So now what are we going to do about Callie's cutting?" Lena had not forgotten about the reason they were all home at two on a Monday.

Stef ran her fingers through her hair. "I have no idea. I guess just talk to her and reassure her that she is loved and wanted and needed. She has a family. Give her some extra attention. Maybe we should talk to Mariana about it as well since she is in the same room as her."

"Okay, well I could use a nap, so I guess I will give our Slug A Bug some Mamma cuddles today when you leave."

Stef laughed. "I am sure she will enjoy that. Now, let's go talk to our girl before I have to get dressed."


	3. Secrets

The moms made their way to Callie's room and found her lying on the floor doing her homework.

"Love, Mamma and I would like to talk to you a minute." Stef said as she and Lena sat on the edge of Callie's bed. Callie sat up, on the floor in front of them. "We have decided that because of the way everything worked out, you and Brandon will not be grounded. We just want you to promise that if something like this were to ever happen again, you will come to us first."

"I know that you are worried that we will throw you out, or not want you anymore, but you have to trust us that we would never do that. You are stuck with us, Callie. Okay? Nothing you do or say will ever change that or our love for you."

"Okay. Thank you. It may not seem like much but that really does mean a lot to a foster kid. To me. I have grown to love it here and love being a part of a real family. I love you guys." Callie said, getting up to give her moms a hug. Stef pulled her down to where she was sitting between the two of them, each one grabbing a hand.

"Callie, I know that you know better than to cut. However, I also understand why you were doing it. We all have habits that we do when life becomes too much. Some good, some not so much. We are going to put our trust in you that it will not happen again, and the next time you will come wake one of us up." Lena said, sadly.

"Right, Love. We are here for you. If you need to vent, cry, scream, anything. That is what parents do. They try to take the pain of their child so that their child can be as happy as possible. So, we are going to talk to Mariana and have her help us with keeping an eye on you. For a while, it may seem like we are smothering you, but as you prove to us that you are going to stop, we will back off, okay Love?"

"Okay." Callie took a deep breath. "There is something I need to tell you both, before you talk to Mariana." She sighed, hopefully this would go well. "You can't get made at Mari, I made her promise not to tell you, okay?" She looked at both women to see their nods of approval to continue. "She already knows that I used to cut. I told her one day when she walked in on me applying the makeup to my leg. She asked me about it and I told her everything. I also told her that I had stopped as well as the urges, so she had no reason to tell."

Lena let out a sigh of relief, so Mariana did know more than she let on in the kitchen that morning.

"Thank you for telling us that and for telling someone about your history. We aren't mad or upset. We understand that there are somethings that you kids talk about in confidence and that is okay, as long as it doesn't place you or others around you in danger." Stef replied before side hugging Callie. "I need to go get ready. I love you, Callie Girl."

"I love you too, Stef." Stef left the room, but Lena stayed.

"I am feeling like a nap, what do you say?" Callie nodded. "Take out the trash in here and then meet me in mine and Mom's bed." The teen had a questioning look on her face so Lena explained further. "Mariana asked me this morning if the reason you were staying home had to do with the blood in your trash can, so she saw it. Then I want some Callie cuddles since Mom had you all day."

Callie smiled at Lena before going to her trash can to take the bag out and replace it. She loved that she was getting a lot of attention and love from Stef and Lena. She had never received that kind of love before in any of her other homes; she was going to soak it up while she could.

Ten minutes later, she found her way into the parent's room where Lena was waiting in the bed as promised. She could hear the shower running, so she figured Stef was still in there. Crawling into the bed, she snuggled next to Lena. The mamma had the TV on and was watching some sappy love story. Lena smiled down at Callie, who now had her head on her shoulder, before placing a kiss on her forehead.

They lay there in silence watching the movie and before they knew it, Stef was coming out of the bathroom in her uniform, pulling her hair up. She walked over to the closet and grabbed her jacket before sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Honey, didn't you just watch this movie last night?" She asked her wife, holding back a smile.

"Yes, but it is sooooo good." Lena replied, a bit over dramatic. The cop just shook her head, smiling the whole time. She leaned over their daughter and kissed her lover, before giving the younger one a peck on the cheek.

"Okay, my loves, I have to get going. I will see you tonight. I love you both, very much."

"Love you too." The mother and daughter replied.

Once Stef was gone, Lena pulled Callie in closer. The brunette laid her head on Lena's chest. The mama ran her hand through Callie's hair.

"Before you fall asleep, I wanted to talk to you. I know that you and I are not as close as you and Stef, but I do love you so much, Bug. You and Stef are close because you are both so much alike. Did you know that when she was younger she used to cut as well?" Callie sat up so she could see Lena's face. She shook her head. "I know I should probably let Mom tell you about it but if you have questions you can ask her later. When she was in high school, her dad came home and found her cuddling with a girl on the couch. He sent her away to some church camp to try to "get rid of the gay"." Lena used her hands to show the quotations. "When she returned home, she decided that she was supposed to love men so she pushed the feelings for women aside. Bottling up her feelings caused a sort of pain that she was not expecting. She became withdrawn from everyone. She tried cutting and it helped her feel better. She did it for a long time, up until she married Mike." Callie was shocked; she would have never guessed that Stef had self harmed before. Why didn't Stef tell her this earlier?

"If her dad was so against it, how did you two end up together?"

"She came to tour Anchor Beach when Brandon was five." Lena closed her eyes remembering the first time she laid eyes on her beautiful wife. "She was married to Mike at the time. Things escalated from there. Mike and Stef had separated, so we began messing around. I finally had enough and told her that I couldn't do it anymore until she told her friends, family, and Mike. I got a phone call about a day later; she had asked me to meet her in the parking lot at the school. I was going to end it, ya know? I couldn't be someone's side chick. She told me that she had just told Mike as well as her family and a few friends. She even used the word lesbian, which believe it or not at the time was a hard word for her to use when referring to herself. That was when things began to move even quicker. She wanted happiness and I made her happy. In this world, Callie Bug, you have to do what makes you happy. Life is too short to be unhappy."

"I am glad you two found each other. I am glad she chose happiness. Do you think if I ask her about the cutting she would tell me about it?" Callie wanted to talk to someone about it, someone who had been through the same thing she had.

"She may be hard to break, but I don't see why she wouldn't."

"Will she be mad you told me?" Callie didn't want to cause problems for the moms.

"No, honey. If it is something you really want to talk to her about, I say go for it. She will do anything for you kids." Callie leaned forward and gave Lena a hug before lying back down next to her, cuddling with Stef's pillow. Soon, they were both fast asleep.

A couple of hours later, Callie woke up to find that she was in the bed alone. Heading downstairs, she saw that her bedroom light was on and Mariana was practicing her dance for the upcoming competition. Deciding that she should warn her about the talk with Stef and Lena, Callie interrupted her sister mid spin.

"Sorry. I just wanted to talk to you for a minute." Callie said after Mariana jumped when she spotted her.

"it's okay. What's up?" She sat down on the side of her bed, joined by Callie.

"So I know that you saw the blood in the trash can. I'm sorry about that." She paused, not knowing how to continue.

"It's fine. But please tell me it isn't from what I think it is." Mariana became concerned.

"Yeah, it is. I cut again two nights ago, and then again last night. Stef caught me and she and Lena kept me home to talk to me about everything."

"I figured that someone had busted you. Are you okay? Are they going to send you somewhere for help? Do you even need to go away?" Mariana may be self centered, but she was genuinely concerned for her foster sister.

"No. No. Nothing like that. They are going to let me stay here now that they have figured out the root of the problem."

"What was it? I mean you don't have to tell me…." Callie raised an eyebrow. "Okay. I do really want to know. Please tell me."

"Well Daph called the night we had our Christmas dinner and told me that she had kidnapped her daughter and didn't know what to do. So Brandon and I went to help her. We talked her into taking Tasha back. Well the cops linked Tasha to me because of a toy I gave Daphne. They came asking all kinds of questions. I panicked and called Robert. He told me he would help me, but I couldn't tell anyone what was happening. I was so scared. So that was why I chose to leave. I felt like I owed it to him for helping me."

"Moms know this?"

"Yes."

"Wait, so are you still moving out now?" Mariana hated to get her hopes up.

"No. I am staying. Everything is worked out." Mariana lunged at Callie and enveloped her in a hug.

"Thank God! I didn't want you to leave. I just got used to you being here." The girls laughed.

"Anyway, I wanted to talk to you before they did. Stef and Lena know that you know about my previous cutting problem. They aren't mad, they are glad I told someone about it. But they are going to talk to you about keeping an eye on me. I just didn't want you to be blindsided by everything."

"Thanks." Callie nodded.

"I'm going downstairs. Hopefully dinner is ready. I am starving."

"Tell Mama I will be down shortly."

 **AN: I am torn. I kind of want Callie to call Stef mom, but I am not sure if it is too out of character or not. What do you think?**


	4. Home

**Hey y'all. :) I didn't expect to have an update for y'all this soon, but I guess I have been in the writing mood. Anyway, here is the next chapter. :)**

Stef had just gotten off work. She pulled into the familiar driveway, took off her police shirt, and made her way to the front door. She knocked and waited for an answer. Robert came to the door, quickly. Opening it, he appeared confused.

"Stef? What's wrong? Is Callie okay?" Stef's blood began to boil.

"I know what you did, Callie told us everything and if you ever tell her to lie to us again I swear-"

"I was just doing what I thought was best for my daughter." Robert picked up on Stef's anger and began to get defensive as well.

"You daughter." Stef began to smile, outraged.

"Yes, my daughter." Stef stared at him momentarily and then walked away. "It's over, Stef. The judge has decided. You're wasting your time, it's too late." Stef turned around to face Robert.

"Well, I am not going down without a fight." With that, Stef got in her car and drove away.

Walking in the front door, she saw that all of the downstairs lights were off, except one in the living room. Peaking in, she saw Callie sitting on the couch, in deep thought.

"Love, what are you still doing up?" She asked, standing at the doorway.

"Lena told me that you used to cut. Is that true?" Stef felt her breath catch in her throat. She walked over and sat down next to Callie, taking the young girl's hand in her own.

"Yes. I did." Stef was upset that Lena had told her daughter about that, but she could understand why she did. Lena was the only one to know that about the cop. She hadn't talked about it before or since she confessed it to Lena.

"Could we…" Callie trailed off, trying to find the nerve to ask about it. "Could we maybe talk about it? I mean we don't have to, but I think it would help me if we did."

"Are you feeling like cutting tonight?" Stef was trying to stall.

"No. I just wanted to talk to you about it. Lena told me the majority of it, I just…I don't know. Maybe it is stupid. No need to talk about water underneath the bridge. Nevermind. Forget I said anything." Callie stood up. The mother was quick about pulling her back down.

"Sweets….Sit down. Don't run. Let's talk." Stef knew that in order to help her baby, she was going to have to open up. She talked Callie through everything Lena had told her earlier in the afternoon. By the time she was done, she was in tears. Wiping away the last of the tears, Stef continued. "Now, just because I did that, it does not mean that it was okay."

"I know. But, do you ever still have the urges to do it?" Callie was more worried about the urges never going away than anything else.

"Honestly? Yes, that was my only way of coping for a long time.." Stef saw Callie's face fall. "They have not gone away completely. However, that doesn't mean that they are as strong. The longer you go without cutting, the less intense the urge to do so becomes."

"I was doing so good, though. Looking back it seems stupid." Stef nodded her head; she knew that feeling all too well.

"Most of the time, it does feel stupid. But you need to know that nothing you feel is stupid. If you are feeling some type of way, then there is a reason for it, and it is not stupid."

"Okay." Callie wasn't sure what else she wanted to talk about, but at least now she knew that she could talk to her mom about cutting and her mom would understand completely.

"I went by Robert's tonight." Stef blurted out after sitting in silence for a few minutes. Callie looked at her with an eyebrow raised. "I wanted to tell him that he better not ever tell you to lie to me again."

"How'd that go?"

"Not so well. He said that the court had already decided and I told him that I wasn't going down without a fight." Callie felt the tears coming.

"Why, though? I mean I am nothing but a screw up. I keep making you and Lena's life hard. I have cost you both so much money in lawyer fees and court costs. Wouldn't it be easier to just let me go?" Stef reached up to wipe the tears from Callie's face.

"Callie Quinn Jacobs, don't you EVER talk like that again. Lena and I don't care how much we have to spend to be able to keep you. You are just as much our daughter as Mariana is. We will fight for you until the end of time if we have too. You are not disposable, Callie." This was something that Stef always told her when she felt as if she didn't belong with them. It was really nothing, but to hear someone say those words about her, she was finally beginning to believe them.

"Okay. I just don't want you guys to get tired of fighting or to feel like you have to fight for me."

"We don't. We love you, Callie girl." Callie laid down on Stef's lap. The mom was so tired but figured that at this moment this is what her baby needed, so she made herself comfortable and threw the blanket from the back of the couch over Callie. Stef began running her fingers through Callie's hair. Just as Callie, and herself, began to drift off, she heard Callie mumble something. "What was that, love?"

"I love you, Mom." Tears sprung to Stef's eyes and a smile graced her lips. This was the first time Callie had called her Mom. Sure she had called the cop her foster mom when introducing her, but she had never referred to her as Mom. Stef decided not to make a big deal out of it.

"I love you too, Callie." She said as her voice began to crack.

About an hour later, Stef was woken up by Lena.

"Honey, how long have you been home?" Lena asked softly as to not wake a sleeping Callie, still in her wife's lap.

"A little over an hour. Callie was down here waiting to talk, so we talked and then she fell asleep. I guess I did too." Stef moved Callie off of her lap.

"mmmmm. Mom?" Callie began rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. Lena raised an eyebrow at Stef.

"Mom?" she mouthed. The blonde shook her head.

"I'm right here, Baby. Why don't you go ahead and go to bed. You have school in the morning, and I know your bed is more comfrotable than this couch." Callie got up, folded the blanket, and hugged each of her moms.

"Good night, Bug. We love you."

"I love you both too." With that, Callie headed up the stairs to her room. After turning off the lights, Stef and Lena followed suit.

"So Callie called you Mom?" Lena asked with a smile, once she and her wife were in the bed.

"Yeah."

"Do you think she realized it, or was it her sleep talking?" Lena couldn't deny the fact she was a little jealous that Stef was called Mom first. Sure, she wasn't as close to Callie, but she thought (well hoped) that she would be called Mom first.

"I don't think so. We talked about my cutting when I was younger, which by the way thanks for warning me. Then as we were finishing up she called me Mom. I missed it the first time so I asked her to repeat herself and she said it again." Stef smiled remembering how it felt to hear her baby call her that. She looked over at her spouse and saw that she looked a little upset. "Don't worry, Love. Your time is coming." Stef kissed her lover.

"That is great, Honey. I know that must have felt good. I know that my time is coming. If you remember, Mariana and Jesus called me Mom first. When they did, you were so hurt. I told you the same thing, that you time was coming." Lena smiled remembering the first time she heard that precious word mumbled by her babies.

"I remember." Stef smiled as well. She had always felt as if the kids were closer to Lena than they were to her. It felt good to have Callie close to her. "We should talk to Mariana before school in the morning, which means we need to wake up earlier and then have to wake her up earlier, a task in itself." Lena laughed.

"Yeah, we should get some sleep. I love you, baby."

"I love you too, my love." Lena leaned over and kissed Stef, before Stef pulled her closer and they fell asleep in each other's arms.

The morning came too quickly for the moms. Lena was the first one awake so she was the one who had the job of waking up Miss Thang.

"Miss Thang, wake up honey. Mom and I need to talk to you, alone." Mariana stirred and began mumbling incoherently. "Come on, Honey. Get up." She pulled the blankets off of her daughter, the only way to make sure she got up.

"Mama!" Mariana whined.

"Shhhh. Get up and meet me and Mom downstairs." Lena looked over at Callie, hopefully she didn't wake up.

"Fine." Mariana went into the bathroom and five minutes later, she was in the living room on the couch in between her mothers.

"Good Morning, Sweets." Stef said as soon as Mariana got comfortable.

"Morning. What is so important that you had to wake me from my beauty sleep?" the young girl asked, forgetting her talk with Callie the afternoon before.

"It's about what you saw yesterday." It all came back. Callie was cutting again. Mariana's whole persona changed, she went from aggravated to concerned in a split second. "We know that Callie has told you about her cutting in the past and Mama told me about you finding the blood in the trash can in your room. We have talked with Callie, and everything is under control as of now. The reason we wanted to talk to you was to have you help us keep an eye on her. We are not asking you to mother her." Stef wanted to make it clear that Mariana was not to parent her, just look out for her. Let us know if you see something suspicious. If she goes into the bathroom and spends longer than normal, you find blades missing from your razor pack, things like that."

"I can do that." Mariana stared off into space, thinking. She had never been around anyone that cut before, they whole idea was foreign to her.

"What is it, Miss Thang?" Lena asked, placing a hand on her daughter's leg to bring her attention back to the conversation.

"It's nothing. Well, I mean, is Callie okay?"

"She will be, Love. She has all of us. We now know that you two talk, so just keep that up. Make sure she knows that she can come to you if she doesn't feel comfortable coming to us." Stef smiled.

"Yeah, I can do that. I love to talk."

"Just don't smother her, Honey. Don't feel like you have to go looking for something that may not be there. That could cause more harm than good. Just let her know that if she ever needs to talk, you are there for her. You don't have to tell us about your talks, unless you feel as if she needs help or is harming herself, okay?" Lena knew how her daughter was. She would pester Callie day in and day out to get answers and then Callie would get irritated and end up going off on her sister. They didn't need that happening.

"Okay. Is that all? Since I am up at the crack of dawn, I might as well use it to my advantage and get in the shower before the others wake up." Mariana was always the one who took the longest to get ready in the morning. She never could get ready in fifteen minutes.

"Yeah, that's all. We love you." Before Stef could get that out of her mouth, the girl was up the stairs.

Shortly after Mariana had gone upstairs to take a shower, the kids began coming downstairs one by one. The second to last was Jude, they were just waiting on Callie. Everyone was sitting down eating when he came down.

"Good morning, Judicorn." Ever since Mariana called him that, it had become his nickname from everyone.

"Morning, Mammas. How is Callie?" He asked fixing his plate.

"She is fine, Bud. Much better than yesterday." Stef answered, sipping on her coffee.

"Good. I was worried."

"Nothing to worry about, Baby." Callie spoke up as she walked into the kitchen fully dressed for school. She looked at Stef who gave her a big smile.

"Good morning, Mom." Callie said placing a kiss on her cheek. Stef looked over at Lena with big eyes. "Good morning, Mama." The brunette greeted Lena that same way as she did Stef. Everyone at the table had a huge grin on their face, especially Lena who was trying to hold back the tears. She didn't allow Callie to get far before she pulled her into a giant Mama hug.

"Good morning, my Baby." Lena said before peppering Callie with kisses. The smile on the young girls face was bigger than it had ever been.

Breakfast finished up without much more excitement.

"We better get going, before we are late." Lena said as she placed her plate in the sink. Everyone had grabbed their things, kissed their mom goodbye and headed to the car. Lena stayed back a moment.

"I can't believe Callie did that so soon. I thought my heart was going to melt." Lena smiled.

"I am happy for you, Love. Have a good day. I love you." Stef kissed her ecstatic wife.

"I love you too. See you tonight when you get home." With that, Lena was out the door.


	5. Loop Hole

**A/N: Sorry it took so long for this update. I wasn't sure how I wanted to write the ending of it. I am still not happy with it, but I figured that I made you all wait long enough.**

 **All mistakes are my own. :)**

Friday night, after everyone had gone to bed, Callie laid awake thinking. She always seemed to have a hard time sleeping. She wasn't sure what was causing her not to be able to sleep, the thing with Daphne was over. She got out her journal and began to write.

 _So, here I am. Awake again. I don't know why. My body feels tense, like there is an elephant sitting on my chest. Its like there is a pressure inside of me building and I can't get any relief. I wish Robert would just go ahead and give Moms custody over me. Can't he tell that this is where I want to be? Maybe if I cut some of this pressure would be relieved. Yeah, I think I will give it a try. Anything is better than what I am feeling now._

She closed the notebook and placed it back in her bedside drawer. She looked over at Mariana. Every night this week she has asked Callie if she was doing okay, or if she needed to talk. Callie understood her concern but was beginning to get aggravated with her sister. Everyone was treating her like she was a fragile piece of glass or something. She recalled a couple of nights before when she has stubbed her toe on the end of her bed, tears instantly sprung to her eyes. Wouldn't you know that Lena walked in about the same time that this happened? She saw Callie crying and she ran to her side, pulling her into a hug.

"It's okay, Bug. I promise." At first Callie was confused but then it clicked.

"It's nothing, Lena. I just stubbed my toe. I am fine. Stop worrying about me so much." She was getting annoyed. Callie climbed out of bed and tried to make it to the bathroom without waking Mariana up. As soon as the door shut, she heard her sister's voice calling her name.

"I'm just going to the bathroom." Callie called out.

"Okay." She waited until she thought Mariana was back asleep then she began rummaging through the cabinets looking for the blades. They were gone. As was everything else sharp that she could possibly use to cut herself. Slamming the cabinet door, she flushed the toilet and went back into her room.

"Looking for something?" Mariana sat up in her bad and turned on her bedside light.

"Go to sleep, Mari. I'm fine." Callie plopped down on her bed, faced the wall and covered her head with her pillow. The younger sister got up and sat on the edge of Callie's bed.

"You don't have to be strong, Callie. I know that you feel that if you cry or need help that means you are weak but it doesn't." She paused to see if there was any sort of reaction from her older sister. When there wasn't, she continued. "You are the strongest person I know. You have been through so much but you still find it in your heart to love others and care for others. Please talk to me. Let me in." Mariana wiped a few stray tears that began running down her face. It took a few minutes, but Callie sat up and pulled her sister into her arms, crying.

"It just hurts. I want to be happy. I want things to work out. I want Robert to sign over his rights. I want to be an Adams Foster. I know I already am, but I want it to be official." She sobbed.

"Were you going to cut tonight?" Mariana asked. She needed to hear her say it out loud.

"Yeah. But I couldn't find anything in the bathroom to use. Don't tell moms."

"Okay. But why? What's going on?"

"I just needed a release. I felt so much pressure in my chest, and I thought that by cutting, the pressure would go away." Callie looked down.

"Maybe talking about it will relieve some of the pressure. Have you thought about that?" Callie shook her head. She wasn't sure, but I guess it wouldn't hurt to try. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure, go ahead."

"Why do you call moms by their names again?" Callie stiffened.

"I can't get too attached."

"What do you mean? Why not?" Mariana was confused.

"If Robert gets custody, then I will no longer have them as my moms. I just don't want to hurt them," Callie paused looking down at her hands. "or myself. The thought of not being here every night is too much."

"They will always be your moms, Callie. You will always have a place in this family. You will always be my sister, no matter where you live. Just like Sophia. You live here, but she is still your sister, right?"

"Of course. I just. I don't know. I don't want to live with Robert and I am not sure that if I were made to move in with him that I could promise not to harm. I wouldn't have anyone else there to make sure I am okay. They are so busy with Sophia and her personality disorder, I don't think they will have time to deal with me as well."

"Well then they are not worthy of you. But hell, why would a judge in his right mind send you somewhere that he knows will cause you to self harm?" Mariana thought out loud.

"Because he is my biological father and Moms aren't my biological moms." Callie yawned.

"That's crazy." Callie nodded before yawning again. "Get some sleep, Callie. We can talk more tomorrow."

"Okay, good night. Thanks. I love you."

"Love you too, sister." Callie rolled over and went to sleep. Mariana went to the bathroom, as she was about to go back to the bedroom, Stef opened the bathroom door.

"Hey Miss Thang. Is everything okay, Love?" She asked.

"Yeah. Callie was having a bad night, but she is asleep now. I was thinking about something but I will talk to you and Mama in the morning about it. Plus, I don't want Callie to know about it until we talk."

"Okay. Thank you for helping her. Get some rest. I love you, baby." Stef kissed her daughter's temple before going back to bed.

The next morning when Mariana woke up, Callie was still knocked out. She decided to let her sleep. Downstairs, her moms were sitting at the table, alone.

"Where is everyone?" She asked stifling a yawn.

"They all had plans for the day. Do you want to talk now, my dear?" Lena asked.

"Sure." She pulled up a seat across from the moms. "So Callie and I talked last night and she said some things that were alarming. She said she went back to calling you by your names because she doesn't want to get attached and be pulled away from here again. At first she said she did it to save you from hurting then added she didn't want to hurt any more. She told me that if she is forced to move in with Robert, that she will resort back to self harm. She said that they won't have time to take care of her, because of them dealing with Sophia. Which led me to think that maybe there was something we could do about this. Would a judge send a kid to live with someone knowing that by doing so they are endangering the child?" Mariana looked to her parents for an answer.

"Absolutely not. But Robert isn't an unfit father, Miss Thang."

"You're right, he isn't. BUT Callie would be in danger because she is forced to live with him. He may not hurt her, but she would hurt herself. Same thing, really. Why would a judge do that? Isn't there some way we can use this as a loop hole?" Mariana pleaded. The moms exchanged a glance before Mariana continued. "I just don't want to lose her, again. She ran once, who's to say it won't happen again?"

"Well, I would have to talk to our lawyer about this, but I think I understand what you are saying." Stef said looking at Lena, who nodded on confirmation. This was a plan she could actual get behind.

"Of course, it would ultimately be Callie's choice." Lena added.

"I'd do it." Callie startled everyone, coming around the corner. She had been listening in on the steps.

"Are you sure, Love?"

"I am willing to try anything to be able to stay with my family." She smiled.

"Well don't get your hopes up just yet. We need to talk to our lawyer to find out how to go about this before we bring it to the judge." Lena spoke up, always the voice of reason. Callie walked over to Mariana and gave her a side hug.

"You will never have to worry about losing me. Even if I don't live here, we are always going to be sisters, right?" She smiled before sitting in her seat, next to Stef.

"Right." Mariana nodded, holding back her tears.

"So girls, any fun plans for the day?" Lena asked changing the subject.

"I have to work this afternoon."

"Yeah and I am going over to Tia's to work on a new dance. What are you two going to do with the house to yourself?" Mariana asked suggestively. She was always the romantic.

"Probably do some cleaning and catch up on bills." Stef answered her.

"Lame. Ugh I don't want to get old." Mariana teased. She knew how her mom hated it when she called them old, joking or not.

"Good bye, daughter." Lena spoke before Stef had a chance too. If the look on her wife's face was any indication, her youngest daughter was in for it.

The girls got up to go upstairs, laughing the whole way.

"So can I go to work with you?" Mariana asked once they were in their bedroom.

"What about Tia's?"

"That was a cover. I really have nothing to do but I figured that with everyone else out of the house for the day that they could use some alone time." Once again, always the romantic.

"You are so sneaky. Yeah, you can come but it's our busy day."

"That's fine. You won't even know I am there." She pleaded.

"Get ready, Miss Thang."

The girls both took their showers and were dressed in no time and out the door.

Lena came downstairs after taking a shower and found Stef in the kitchen on her laptop, glasses perched on her nose.

"What are you doing, Honey?" Lena asked rubbing her wife's back lovingly.

"Paying bills."

"Fun. So about this loop hole with Callie…" Stef removed her glasses and turned around to face the taller woman. "Do you think we have a case with what Mariana told us? I really don't want to lose Bug."

"I don't know, Love. I called our lawyer to talk to her about it. We will just have to see." She pulled Lena in placing a gentle kiss on her lips. "Mmmmm, you smell good." Stef's voice changed.

"Oh do I?" Lena smirked, catching on to where this was headed.

"Mmmhmmm." Lena leaned down and captured Stef's lips with her own. Their hands began roaming, Lena's on Stef's back and Stef's hands became wrapped up in her wife's hair. Stef was the first one to break the kiss up.

"How long do we have until the kids are back?" The blonde woman asked.

"Long enough. Let's go." Stef smiled before wrapping her arms around Lena's waist, picking her up. Lena wrapped her legs around the cop's waist and began placing soft, sweet kisses on her neck. Once in the bed room, it was game time. Clothes were being thrown all over the room, heavy breathing took over the silence. Stef laid Lena down and began placing soft kisses along her wife's jaw line, before making her way down. She paused at Lena's breasts, giving each one the attention they deserved. Then, she came to her toned, flat stomach. Before they knew it, they were in rhythm with each other. Lena was the first to finish, so she flipped Stef over and climbed on top of her, finding her lips with hers. It didn't take much longer for Stef to finish as well.

Afterwards they laid in the bed, snuggled up against one another.

"It's been a while since we have been able to do that." Stef said, letting out a small laugh.

"Too long" Lena replied, placing a sweet kiss on her lover's cheek. Stef's phone began to ring. "UGH. Really?" Lena groaned.

"Let it go to voicemail. I am not ready to move." Stef said, snuggling even closer to Lena.

"But what if it's the lawyer. Check it." Stef reluctantly rolled over and looked at her phone, sure enough it was.

"Mmmm. Hello?" She asked, her voice still groggy. "Yes. So you got the email? Okay. Well she is already in a group therapy. No, yeah, I get it. Okay. I will talk to them. Okay. Thank you. Mmmhmmm, bye."

"So, what did she say?" Lena asked once Stef had hung up the phone.

"Let's go get a burger. I'll tell you on the way." The women got up, searched for their clothes and then hoped in the car to go talk to Callie.


	6. Therapy

**AN: Sorry for the lack of updates. I was struggling with writer's block.**

 **WARNING: Self harm mentions.**

Lena and Stef showed up at Callie's job. This was the first time they had been to visit her at work.

"Is this a good idea, Stef? Should we talk to her about this at work?" Lena asked as they were getting out of the car. Stef had filled her in, as promised, on the way to the burger joint.

"I don't see why not." The two women opened the door to find Callie behind the counter and Mariana was sitting at a table playing on her phone. "Miss Thang?"

"Mom! Mama! What are you doing here?" Mariana stole a look at Callie who seemed just as shocked.

"We could ask you the same thing, Love." Stef said smiling as she hugged her daughter.

"Oh well, I didn't go to Tia's. I just wanted to give you two some alone time, so I asked Callie if it was okay if I chilled here today."

"I see." Lena said, raising an eyebrow at the teenage.

"Callie, can you come here for a minute?" Stef wanted to get right to it.

'Uh, sure. Let me take out this last order and I will clock out for my break." It didn't take long for them to sit down at a table outside. "So what are you guys doing here?"

"Well, the lawyer called today, and we wanted to talk to you about what she suggested before we move forward with this plan." Stef paused, waiting for a response. When there wasn't one, she continued. "So, she said that this was a good idea but it may be harder to pull off than we thought. We would have to get you into a one on one therapy session once a week. This therapist would have to be convinced that what you are saying is the truth. It may take some time because you were cutting in our care as well."

"Yeah, but it isn't because of you guys. It is because of what Robert is trying to do." Callie interrupted her mom.

Stef nodded. "I know, honey. But you have to tell her that. Anyway. After the therapist says that it is not safe for your well being to go live with your birth father, then we will just have to show the judge your file and get Bill to testify to the reason he chose to place you with us. You not feeling safe with Robert and your past experience in houses with men, should be enough to convince the judge to place you with us permanently." Callie looked over at Mariana, both with tears in their eyes. They shared a hug. "One more thing. While the judge may give us custody, it is also possible that he will require you to still have some sort of relationship with Robert. I am not sure if that means weekly visits like before or if we will have to continue these weekend visits, but I just wanted you to be aware of the options he has. I am pretty sure that if we do get full custody, he will still make you see him because he is so set on you having a relationship with him. Are you okay with all of this?"

"Yeah. I don't care what it takes. I just don't want to ever be taken from you again. If I have to see him, so be it." Callie knew deep down that this was probably not going to work, after all, nothing ever goes the way she wants it to, but if she didn't try then she would never know.

About a week later, the moms had finally set up the appointment for Callie to start individual therapy. Callie came down the stairs the morning of her first session talking with Brandon.

"Yeah, I mean I am kinda nervous. I just don't know if this is going to work. But like I have said over and over, I will do anything to stay here with this family."

"I get it. I really hope this works. You deserve to make this decision and not have someone else make it for you." Brandon said as they entered the kitchen where the rest of the family was already sitting down to breakfast. They both fixed a plate and sat down as well.

"Nice of you to join us." Stef said as she smiled and pulled Callie in for a side hug.

"Sorry, Mom. I was the last one to take a shower today." Brandon defended himself while casting an evil glare at Mariana.

"Yeah, I was making sure I had everything I needed for this thing today." Callie replied.

"Are you nervous?" Jude asked, with a hint of concern in his voice.

"A little, bud. I don't know how this is going to go, but it is worth the shot."

"Just remember honey, be honest with her and it should go as planned." Lena chimed in. The rest of breakfast was spent listening to Mariana talk about her dance competition coming up. After everyone had finished and cleared the table, Callie and Lena headed for the door.

"Hold up, Love." Stef could be heard coming down the stairs. "I am so sorry that I can't make it today. I know that you are going to do just fine. Mamma will be there with you and I should be home by the time you get back. Hopefully this funeral procession won't take forever."

"It's okay, really. I will see you when I get back." Callie placed a kiss on Stef's cheek. The mother reached up and held Callie's head to her own for a moment before letting go.

"I love you, Bug."

"Love you too, Stef." With that the two women left the house.

Once Lena and Callie arrived at the therapist's office, Callie began to feel sick. Not like she was going to throw up but her stomach was in knots. She had never really talked about her self harm before, especially to a professional. What if the professional didn't believe her? What if she thought Callie was doing it for attention?

"Callie Jacobs?" The doctor called her name, pulling her from her thoughts. Lena stood up, giving Callie's hand a tight squeeze. "Just Callie, ma'am." She said to the doctor. Callie looked up at Lena, worry filling her eyes.

"It will be okay, Callie Bug. Just be honest with her." Lena kissed her daughter's cheek before Callie and the doctor made their way to the back.

In the office, Callie decided to sit on the couch across from two chairs. It was set up a lot like the living room at home. Maybe by sitting in her 'normal' spot and the doctor sitting across from her, she would feel more comfortable. As the therapist was getting some things together, Callie took the time to study the woman. She was about Stef's height and weight. She had short brown hair. She seemed nice enough. When the lady finally sat down, Callie noticed her eyes. They looked a lot like Stef's. Maybe this won't be so bad after all.

"Hello, Callie. My name is Dr. Marie. It is nice to meet you." Callie nodded so the doctor took that as a hint to continue. "When Stef called me and made this appointment, she filled me in on some things that have been concerning her and I would like to talk to you about them. However, I am not going to make you talk. If you don't want to say anything that is fine, but the sooner you open up, the sooner we can see about making things official with your foster moms."

"Okay. Well, where do you want me to start?" Callie asked, eager to get this over with.

"Why don't you tell me why you think you are here." The therapist smiled at the young brunette.

"My mom found me cutting." She waited for the older woman to say something but instead she just wrote in her notebook. "She was worried so she called you after talking to me and we decided that maybe I should come talk to someone about the problem."

"I see. Do you think that this will be beneficial to you? Do you think this will help you?"

"I hope so. I mean, isn't that what you do? Help people?" Callie didn't see the point in that question.

"Yeah, I guess it is." Dr. Marie laughed. "So let's talk about your cutting. When did it start?"

"Uhm, around the age of 12. It started as an accident. I was taping a poster on the back of my door and the tape dispenser slipped and cut my arm. I feel to my knees and instead of crying I just watched the blood trickle down my arm. I realized then that it didn't hurt, it actually felt good. So I grabbed the dispenser and did it again. SO from then on out I started doing it whenever I would feel too much." Dr. Marie nodded, still writing in her notebook.

"Feel too much what, Callie?" She asked, looking up at the young girl.

"Anything. Too happy, too sad, too mad, too sick. Too anything."

"mmmm. So when your foster mom found you cutting, what were you feeling?"

"I was tired. I was tired of not having a say so of my own life. I was tired of having to see my birth father and his family. I was tired of the nightmares from my past. I was just tired." Callie was being honest. She felt that it was the only way to be safe with Stef and Lena forever.

"I see. So you don't want to live with your birth father. If I may ask, why is that?"

"I fear men. I have never had a good relationship with any man in my life. First the man I thought was my father murdered my mother. Not only did he kill her, but he lied to me for 15 years about being my dad. Then in and out of foster homes, the dads and brothers I had there did things to me." Callie paused remembering what happened with Liam and all of the men abusing her and her younger brother. "Then Robert comes into my life and expects me to welcome him with open arms. His other daughter ripped up the abandonment papers and then he refused to sign them again. He promised. He promised he would sign them as long as I agreed to still see him. Which I did. I told him that he would always be my father but I felt safer living with Stef and Lena. Then he helped me with something serious and had me lie to them about it. He told me I had to or else I could get into trouble. He was confusing me and making me turn against my family. The only family I've known since my mother died." The tears had finally begun to fall. The room felt like it was spinning.

"Okay, Callie. Take a deep breath." Dr. Marie spoke after seeing Callie start to break down. "I think we have made a lot of progress in this first session. Thank you for being so open with me." Callie nodded. "I think that is enough for today. Come on, I will walk you back out to your foster mother.

Callie practically jumped into Lena's arms when they made it back to the waiting room, tears still brimming her eyes.

"We made a lot of progress today. I would like to see her back in a week." Dr. Marie handed Lena a card with the new appointment date on it. "My number is also on the card so if anything comes up between now and then do not hesitate to call me."

Lena thanked the doctor before wrapping an arm around her daughter's shoulder and walking out to the car. The ride home was silent. Lena didn't want to push the subject and Callie was still processing everything.

That night after dinner, Callie walked into the mother's room and stood at the foot of the bed. Stef was reading while Lena took a shower.

"Hey, Love."

"Can I – Can I get in with you until Mamma gets out of the shower?"

"Of course, stay as long as you'd like." Callie climbed in and cuddled next to her mom.

"How was therapy today, Bug?" Stef asked, holding her girl tight.

"Eh, it was okay. She asked when and why I started cutting, how often I would do it and why I didn't want to live with Robert. I held it together until I started talking about the other homes I had been in and about Robert making me lie to you guys." She kept it short and sweet.

"So do you like this lady?"

"She's alright. I mean, I don't mind talking to her. Wanna know something silly?" The brunette let out a small, breathy laugh.

"Yeah." Stef said holding in a laugh herself.

"I think the reason I could talk to her so easily was because…" all of a sudden Callie became shy.

"Go ahead, Love."

"She reminded me of you. Her eyes looked a lot like yours. She didn't look at me like I was wounded. She looked at me with respect. I don't know. She just reminded me of you and I like talking to you." Callie finally was able to get it out. She looked up at Stef and smiled quickly before looking back down at her hands.

"Awe, honey. I am glad that she reminds me of you and that it makes it easier for you to talk to her. I love our little talks as well." Stef pulled the younger one closer (if that were even possible) and placed a lingering kiss on her temple. "I love you so much, Callie. I promise you that I am and will continue doing everything in my power to make this your permanent home. I don't know what I would do without you in my life now."

"Me either, Callie bug. I love you too!" Lena said jumping on the bed and tickling her daughter.

Callie smiled. "I love you guys too."

The rest of the night was spent with the three of them laying in the bed cuddling and watching TV until they all drifted off to sleep.


End file.
